J. Nathaniel Daygbor
29 April 2008
The management of the E.E. Dennis's Rubber Estate in Bong County has clarified reports published in local dailies that its (farm) was responsible for the burning of several towns in the county.
The management o said it has at no time got involved in burning down towns in the county. Several towns including Dakpasue, Vuku and Corlonta were reportedly burned by the workers of the farm when dispute ensued between them and residents of the towns.
Over the weekend, some journalists visited the area and were informed by the management that it had nothing to do with burning the town as reported.
Our reporter who was part of the visit quoted the head of the management of the Dennis Farm, Jessie Yuan as expressing dismay over the manner in which the incident was reported, especially without balancing the story.
It can be recalled that violence erupted between residents of the three towns and the workers of the E. E Dennis Farm. During the incident, about 60 huts, cattle and vehicles were destroyed while several others sustained injuries.
Yuan told our reporter that the farm, which occupies 2,200 acres of land, was bought from the Liberian Government since 1960. He specifically said the last land was bought in 1963 during the regime of late President W.V. S. Tubman.
Of the total of 2,200 acres of land, he said management was able to plant on 500 acres due to the low resources. But he said contention aroused immediately after the war the residents whereby residents, despite being aware of the facts, ignored reality that the land was bought from the Liberian government.
He said residents manifested their dissatisfaction by attacking their business, engaging in illicit tapping as well as uprooting rubber trees numbering about 500. The Dennis Farm executive said during the early parts of this month, they (management) decided to extend the farm, but that the decision was resisted by the residents.
He said residents seized a power-saw belonging to the farm on grounds that their ancestral land was being taken from them. According to him, workers of the farm joined the fray by opposing the action of the residents, thus leading to the outbreak of the violence which led to the demolition of property.
In the wake of the melee, he said, he along with officers and other workers was attacked by the residents, but that they managed to escape. Yuan told out reporter that they contacted the local authority including Superintendent Rennie Jackson during the melee to intervene but to no avail.
"Due to this refusal, the police themselves also refused to put things under control," Manager Yuan said. The melee left about US$2M worth of property destroyed while 40 workers were wounded by the residents, he said.
Also speaking to The Analyst about the incident, the assigned Magistrate of Sanoyea District, Bong County, Patrick Paye quoted his wife as saying that the residents chased Mr. Yuan.
According to him, over 100 men entered a town called Fula Town where Mr. Yuan was believed to have hidden himself, but fortunately the men did not find him so they left. "During the late hours of the night, I saw smoke from the next town, but do not know who carried out the act," Mr. Yuah said.
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